Adam Silver held his annual pre-NBA Finals press conference on Thursday and discussed a variety of topics with reporters, but the piece that raised the most eyebrows was in response to a question about the league’s investigation into the latest Instagram Live video of Ja Morant holding a gun.
Silver said the league’s investigation was done and that they had “uncovered additional information” in it, but they would be holding their decision on further punishment for Morant until after the Finals to keep the focus on the series itself.
Adam Silver on Ja Morant: “We’ve uncovered a fair amount of additional information. We probably could have brought it to a head now, but we’ve made the decision that it would be unfair to these players and these teams to announce that decision in the middle of this series.”
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) June 1, 2023
That, of course, only raises more questions about what the league has found, but it certainly doesn’t sound good for Morant. On a followup question later, Silver addressed whether the league’s initial suspension was enough and stated it’s incumbent on Morant and the Grizzlies to “create better circumstances” in the future.
More Adam Silver on Ja Morant: “I don’t think we yet know what it will take to change his behavior.” He emphasizes the need for Morant, Grizzlies and people around him to “create better circumstances” moving forward.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) June 1, 2023
Adam Silver is asked whether in retrospect, he should have delivered a stronger initial suspension to Ja Morant. Silver said, "it seemed appropriate at the time, although maybe by definition – it appears he's done it again, we've all seen the video – you could say maybe not." https://t.co/GRX4UDddrP
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 1, 2023
Silver would not comment either way on whether Morant would be available to start the season, but just reading the tea leaves here it is hard to imagine the Grizzlies star guard doesn’t miss a fairly significant chunk of games to start next season. We’ll find out in the next week or two what all “additional information” means regarding the investigation, but it seems there is more than just this latest video the league is concerned about.
